I started my day with a cup of hot tea and a bowl of Great Grains cereal by Post. I spend so much time reading. The more I learn, the more I want to read to continue learning.

I just read an article which stated only 25 to 35 percent of people take weight off successfully. I’ve been sitting here analyzing why. I believe the reasons are:

• poor eating habits (eliminate fried foods and eat baked or broiled)

• choice of snacks (eliminate the cake, cookies and ice cream and replace it with low-fat jello or fresh fruit

• lack of exercise (take a 20 minute walk everyday, if you have stairs, make a few extra trips up and down them) The best thing would be to join a place that has a trained physical fitness person to help you. I have just joined a program called Lift Fit located at the hospital. 98 percent of the people are my age or older.

• beverages (limit the pop/coffee/milk shakes and drink lots of water) I love Propel flavored water

• Lack of support system (whether it be family members, someone one on here, or a weight group…we all need encouragement)

I am going to do my part to change the success rate. I’m printing this out and putting on my fridge along with the 5 filling foods. Tomorrow is weigh-in day for week two. (biting my nails)